Analysis: Race for secretary of state is all about choices

Few people would argue that the race for Kansas secretary of state has ever been the most compelling of the statewide races.

After all, it is perhaps the most clerical of the statewide offices. Charged with registering Kansans to vote, conducting elections, registering businesses and certifying notary publics, it is the one office that keeps the trains running on time.

The duties are important functions of state government, but they are rarely issues that lure voters to the polls to demand systemic reform.

Enter Kris Kobach.

The former Kansas GOP chairman and immigration attorney is making voter fraud his central campaign theme. He wants new requirements placed on registering to vote and casting ballots, similar to the laws he helped write in Arizona.

"Kansas voters have a very clear choice," Kobach said. "I am confident they will agree with me that now is the time to restore the integrity of Kansas elections."

Kobach says he will be aggressive in prosecuting cases of voter fraud, doing the investigative work and taking them to the attorney general for charges to be filed.

He also wants to rewrite election laws to put in tougher procedures for, first, verifying U.S. citizenship of Kansans registering to vote and then requiring a photo identification when all ballots are cast, not just first-time voters.

"I think this is the civil rights issue of our time," Kobach said this past week during a campaign appearance with his mentor, former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft. "We need to take steps to stop it."

Not so fast, says Secretary of State Chris Biggs.

"Voter fraud in this state is not a major problem," Biggs said.

The Democrat incumbent was appointed to the post after the resignation of Republican Ron Thornburgh, who had held the seat since 1994. Biggs was the Geary County prosecutor who lost a bid for attorney general in 2002 against Phill Kline but was later appointed securities commissioner.

Biggs says he and Thornburgh before him haven't found widespread fraud, but that isn't to say cases aren't investigated.

"When you talk about voter fraud, you have to be careful, because that's a real catchall," Biggs said. "We've got a lot of crimes associated with voting, and some of them are more technical in nature and different intents are required."

Kansas law defines 41 types of election crimes, ranging from voting in place of another person, registering to vote for another person, intimidation of voters or election workers, to voting without being qualified.

Kobach's comments would suggest that many of those statutes are being violated intentionally across Kansas and that elections being compromised.

"It shows there is a structural problem," Kobach said at a news conference attended by about a dozen supporters. "The laws are not being prosecuted. It is the civil rights violation of our time."

The record shows that there have been allegations of vote fraud statewide over the past decade, with few resulting in prosecutions or convictions.

In 2004, three voters pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of double voting in Kansas and Missouri. The crimes were detected by comparing voter registration rolls in both states.

There are numerous other cases where voter fraud was alleged when nursing home staff or family members completed ballots for residents. Those cases were investigated by the secretary of state's office and referred to either county or federal attorneys for further investigation, but didn't result in prosecutions.

"I believe it's fear-based and perhaps a concern about losing power or control," Biggs said. "But there is no suggestion in the evidence that we have a major voter fraud problem, and certainly not one connected to illegal immigration."

Biggs is preparing to conduct an internal review to gauge the extent of voter fraud this summer to get a better fix on the issue.

Kobach has to get by Shawnee County elections commissioner Elizabeth Ensley and J.R. Claeys, a Salina resident with experience observing international elections, in the August primary.

Ensley said Kobach's comments underscore why experience matters. She says the office has enough responsibilities without adding more to the plate or budget. She has called Kobach's message "scare tactics" aimed at riling up voters.

"Kansans have told me they want limited government," Ensley said. "I will work within existing resources, including the attorney general and local prosecutors. We do not need to create more bureaucracy."

In the past, voters have ratified the choice by the outgoing secretary of state to his chief deputy to take over the office. Jack Brier begot Bill Graves who begot Thornburgh. Thornburgh resigned, interrupting that pattern, but it is clear Ensley is his choice among GOP hopefuls.

Will tradition be restored, or will Kobach usher a change of approach for the GOP? Can a Democrat get elected for only the second time since 1948?

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Boy, that's a surprise. Another surprise is that the inbred succession to this office (Paul Shannahan (1951 to 1966) to Elwill Shannahan (1966 to 1978) to Jack Brier (1978 to 1987) to Bill Graves (1987 to 1995) to Thrornburgh (1995 to 2010) to Ensley (Thornburgh's choice) would also deny that a problem exists. Perhaps it is time that new blood came into the office.

Incidentally, there have not been any Democrats elected to that office since 1948. Democrat Larry Ryan of Manhattan served one two year term as a result of the 1948 election. Biggs is a Democrat, but was appointed by Governor Parkinson.

So, you backwoods, redneck, right-wing guys are calling for change, eh? Would you agree that change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. Kobach is the one we’ve been waiting for and is the change that we seek?

There are some positions in political office that only the wealthy or rich can run for - there is no such thing as choice but privileged of having a good stash of cash gained through whatever means gained.

The limited choice available might not even exist because of the lack of candidates in political office - having said that as far as the Secretary of state and whom from my critiquing mind and actually I don't even rally like this guy but he is better then the god forsaken choices we have - I have seen this guy in public meetings so even tho I don't have a vary good impression of him I do know that somewhere in that persona of being a bloody attorney is a human being that has potential.